Traffic stops, I guess the type of car does make a difference.

[Von Smallhausen]

out of interest, how common is this in your experience?

I can't say or speak for all but in my experience it is not common. There was a spate of young drivers who would congregate in car parks and we would park up and speak to them. It was good crack and there was never any trouble with them.

I would like to think that was the norm however I have little doubt
there will be some who don't play a fair game.

 

[Westyfield2]

I've never been pulled , even though I look 12 and drive parents/work cars which are 'bigger'/'better' than your average kids cars.

Heck I drove a Saxo VTR with metal plates and now a Clio 182 with a small plate and I still haven't been pulled, and that's driving like a tool around Bath & Bristol at unholy hours!

 

[Sparky]

Got pulled last week, unmarked car follwed me from Bedfordshire into Bucks, pulled me outside work and got breathalised. Blew a zero and given a "advisory" for speeding! Undertaking a unmarked car will do that....

Anyway, they were decent enough and just told me to slow down.

 

[NathWraith]

lol hurfdurf

 

[Nick1881]

Nope E60 in a small town called Nuneaton.

Keep forgetting you live near me, what colour is your M5? I'll look out for you.

 

[Rich1988]

I have been pulled a fair number of times, and to be honest cant say it bothers me at all, it doesnt help I drive about in the early hours of the morning a lot, to me it shows they are doing something active at least, I have nothing to hide and im all legal so I have no problem, infact on the contrary it gives me a sense of satisfaction when they tell me everythign fine and send me on my way!

 

[NVP]

At the OP, I work on the force and I would stop cars but only with reason be it manner of driving, defect etc and if up market cars are driving around at particular times of night then I will pull them over now and again as a routine stop to see if driver and car match for insurance etc and if so then they are on their way with good wishes. Many are appreciative of the stop.

Cheers Von, can I ask what motivation is behind this type of "routine check"? Is it purely from suspicions that the driver might not be the owner (ie. stole the car)? Because this seems to be the main reason I am stopped. Or is it merely curiosity as to why they are driving around at this sort of hour?

What area of Nuneaton do you live in? I live in Bedworth, and travel to, from and around Nuneaton a lot, but I've only been pulled 3 times in 5 years of driving.

I hardly ever see any traffic police, just the normal bobby's in panda cars?

Josh

Bedworth hey? Unlucky mate

Not many traffic cars in our police force I don't think, lots of marked foci and a couple of 520d's though. I do know they have an undercover silver Golf R32, an under cover silver 5-series (not sure what engine), an uncover black ST. They did have an undercover blue S-Type but that was reported in the local paper as being written-off within a month

Keep forgetting you live near me, what colour is your M5? I'll look out for you.

Black, the fastest colour Think the only other M5 I've seen around is a silver one from a guy in Hinckley, surprising actually as I would have expected there be a lot more about.

You drive an NSX?! Never seen one around Nuneaton.

I have been pulled a fair number of times, and to be honest cant say it bothers me at all, it doesnt help I drive about in the early hours of the morning a lot, to me it shows they are doing something active at least, I have nothing to hide and im all legal so I have no problem, infact on the contrary it gives me a sense of satisfaction when they tell me everythign fine and send me on my way!

Possibly controversial, but on the other side of the coin there's the whole "oh this country is turning into Nazi Germany where I have to stop and show my ID papers" argument. That's not what I believe but there are always the two extremes and generally most people are in the middle sharing bits of both views.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Do you spend the early hours of the morning cruising around town or something then?

 

[NVP]

Haha yeah with my stereo blasting hollering at chicks out my window whilst eating a MackyD's!

Nah I'm just either leaving the pubs/clubs or a friends house or coming back from a different city or something, so generally I am driving on the roads pretty late quite often.

 

[Django x2]

Been stopped twice in the E60. Once for speeding and once when I went out really late to buy MW3 and was in a bit of a rush. It's more about how you drive than what you drive.

 

[Jay794]

BMW's are drug deal cars, especially black 3 Series lol, tinted windows too I expect?

 

[Von Smallhausen]

Cheers Von, can I ask what motivation is behind this type of "routine check"? Is it purely from suspicions that the driver might not be the owner (ie. stole the car)? Because this seems to be the main reason I am stopped. Or is it merely curiosity as to why they are driving around at this sort of hour?

Things like time of night. You might see a vehicle driving around quiet streets more than once. It's more often than not that it is quite innocent and a quick stop and PNC check sorts it out and the driver / occupants are ok and off they go.

As for up market cars, if the driver looks young then I would likely pull the car but you soon get to know who is legit so I wouldn't stop the same car repeatedly once it's known the driver can legally drive it.

Manner of driving is the most common I would say especially those who drive half on the pavement and who smell like a brewery when you speak to them.

As for a stolen car, they more than likely take off rather than stop.

 

[snowdog]

I've stopped counting the times I've been stopped the last couple of months, it's silly.

Sometimes apparently I'm ''suspicious'', sometimes they say ''routine check'', sometimes they look over my whole car, sometimes they breathanalyze me, but meh I stopped caring everything is always fine or I always get off with a warning ( if stopped for speeding or similar). Most coppers are decent guys but there are a few who behave like bloody arses but most are decent chaps.

Chilling in industrial area's/business estates in the late hours during the week might have something to do with coppers often finding me suspicious though, or in routine checks ( where they don't stop all the cars but only some) if I give them ''I'm annoyed/not again'' looks perhaps also a factor, and of course me driving like a loon sometimes also got me stopped a couple of times . Had to laugh the last time where they apparently ''couldn't keep up'' with me so they couldn't do a thorough measurement ( 2 motorways joined and they saw me far up ahead, came from the other motorway, but I was booting it and took an exit, 20-30 seconds later they were beside me at the lights, I was in shock at that moment I didn't notice being followed) , got a speech for driving way too fast but got off with a warning .

Luckily most coppers aren't stuck up morons on their high horses obsessively enforcing ridiculous laws. The number of times I got away with something with a warning... Simply stay polite and most coppers aren't so stuck up about speed limits or other small offenses ( got away with peeing in public, illegal parking, and various other small things simply by apologizing and staying polite).

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

I have been driving for 6 years in a basic spec Micra (can't wait for a new car!) and have never been pulled or followed (although I wouldn't know if it was an undercover car).
The only things I did to it when I got it were add a CD player and parcel shelf speakers.
I am certain that if I had added Motorworld special offer Wolfrace alloys and a bangin' exhaust (basically joined the 'rude boiz' in the high street carpark at night) I would have been pulled no end of times.

I also do not do traffic light drag racing, handbrake turns or have a big speaker in the boot. Nor do I have a 15 year old girlfriend.

 

[snowdog]

I also do not do traffic light drag racing, handbrake turns or have a big speaker in the boot.

Guilty .

I am certain that if I had added Motorworld special offer Wolfrace alloys and a bangin' exhaust (basically joined the 'rude boiz' in the high street carpark at night) I would have been pulled no end of times.

Not guilty... Well I do have leds in my windscreen washer nozzles but never have em on, previous owner did that rubbish, and my car is lowered a good couple of inches, but aside from that stock looks.

Waste of money imho aesthetic changes, loud exhaust would just annoy me. I do drive like a hooligan though, big speaker in the boot blasting toons, and hanging around on carparks in the middle of the night.

However, it's mainly the time and place I guess that gets me stopped, when I had the Volvo I was never stopped despite:

traffic light drag racing, handbrake turns or have a big speaker in the boot.

Simply because I didn't hang around so late at night, usually back home around 1am... And took drives from A to B to C rather than random hanging around or driving around industrial estates and neighborhoods.


I used to get very annoyed with the coppers in the past for being stopped ( after they buggered off I was usually swearing for a couple of minutes in my car), but it's happened so often now I kind of don't care anyhow as I don't have anything to hide anyhow, don't drinkdrive, don't steal or do anything illegal ( well except drive like a moron occasionally) so they can go over me n my car all they want, they're only wasting their time anyhow...

 

[Vince]

Used to get pulled all the time in my mk6 escort cab, had it a few years and pulls used to be almost monthly, mind you it wasn't a standard car so stood out a bit and I looked like a 12 year old driving it. Since then I can't think of a time I have been pulled over. Was never pulled in the Boxster, Astra TwinTop or the Corsa.

 

[shoes]

Didn't you used to always get pulled over in your 325 as well?

Never been pulled over no matter what was driving, where I was driving it, at what time and how many of us were in the car.

As I said last time you complained about this I remain largely convinced its about driving style not car.

A police car behind you can only see how you drive not who you are...

I've been pulled once in the focus for a defective brake light - can't complain about that.

My BMW screams 'pull me' and then when PNC'd it will return the fact it belongs to a 25 year old bloke. I've been tailed twice by the rozzers in it, once for over 4 miles through several turns/junctions, and neither of them felt the need to pull me over.

Driving style > car when it comes to pulling someone over I guess.

Therefore

 

[Nathan]

I've been pulled once in the focus for a defective brake light - can't complain about that.

My BMW screams 'pull me' and then when PNC'd it will return the fact it belongs to a 25 year old bloke. I've been tailed twice by the rozzers in it, once for over 4 miles through several turns/junctions, and neither of them felt the need to pull me over.

Driving style > car when it comes to pulling someone over I guess.

Therefore

It won't tell them your age from pnc.

 

[mistercrabb]

I've never been pulled, although the day I got my car they tried to, I was too fast driving up my road and was already in my driveway by the time they caught up with me (PNC hadn't been updated, they thought I had no insurance and had nicked the car from the garage I just bought it from).

 

[NVP]

Things like time of night. You might see a vehicle driving around quiet streets more than once. It's more often than not that it is quite innocent and a quick stop and PNC check sorts it out and the driver / occupants are ok and off they go.

Hmm... I'm thinking time of night and area of town must be playing a factor in upping my pulling percentage.

As for up market cars, if the driver looks young then I would likely pull the car but you soon get to know who is legit so I wouldn't stop the same car repeatedly once it's known the driver can legally drive it.

Oh so you're mainly checking that sonny hasn't "borrowed" his Dads car, maybe I should have got those alloys then

As for a stolen car, they more than likely take off rather than stop.

You been in many chases?